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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27055051">Bonding Trip</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxiemumDamage/pseuds/MaxiemumDamage'>MaxiemumDamage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Camping, F/F, White Rose Weekend, White Rose Weekend 2020, by an author who has been camping a grand total of three times, set in volume 1, yeah I went off prompt a little so sue me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:34:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,141</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27055051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxiemumDamage/pseuds/MaxiemumDamage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Weiss and Ruby go camping together! It starts off… about as well as you’d expect. But they've been warming up to each other lately, and maybe this could help things along.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Overnight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Sure is pretty up here, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby was trying. Weiss had to admit that. She wasn’t to blame for their current predicament, and was certainly doing her best to make the experience enjoyable. As a team leader should. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss reminded herself of that fact at least once every five minutes, because it was the only thing stopping her from shoving her team leader off a cliff. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Gods</span>
  </em>
  <span> she wished that was an exaggeration. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s breathtaking.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That wasn’t an exaggeration either–the views were beyond even that of Solitas sunsets, of Forever Fall Forest,  even Beacon didn’t quite measure up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That, and the fact that an entire day of hiking in this heat had left Weiss’s lungs on the verge of collapse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had made it here, at least. It could only get better.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...so, in order to foster relationships with your partners, each pair will be going on an off campus trip for two to three days within the next week.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss blinked. Twice. She waited for someone to laugh or yell “psych” like Nora did when she tried to be funny. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sadly, no such luck. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This was going better than Ruby had expected. They had gotten to their campsite and made it through six hours together without any yelling!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unless Weiss was just waiting until she caught her breath. She had been panting on and off for most of the hike, even though they’d packed light. (Thankfully having designated safe zones for camping meant that getting supplies dropped off for overnight trips was not only an option, but normalized. Carrying a tent wouldn’t have made this any easier.) Ruby had spent plenty of time in nature herself, but today hadn’t been a walk in the park for her. And considering Weiss’s ivory tower upbringing, it was a small miracle she was taking this so well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, that wasn’t fair. Things with Weiss in particular had been… better, since Ruby had that talk with Ozpin. No more fighting or throwing insults, things were just… a bit frosty. A lot of other teams seemed to be going through the same thing–that’s probably why Beacon held this trip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby wished, not for the first time, that her dad and Uncle Qrow had been just a bit more open when it came to their time at the Academy. Had they gone on a trip? It did seem like this was a regular event, but they hadn’t had more than a week’s notice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think this is weird?” A good leader should communicate and voice her opinion, (like Coco), so Ruby did the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, being stuck in the woods for three days isn’t my idea of a good time, but it’s not so strange. We’ll end up doing missions in all sorts of environments, so it’s a logical practice to have students gain wilderness survival skills.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby had meant that they were split by partners instead of teams, but… well, Weiss was right too, and she’d been vague with her question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good point. Speaking of survival skills, do you have any preference for what to do? As much as I enjoy the view, we still need to set up camp. Preferably before it gets dark.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s there to do?” Weiss had… never been camping before. She’d watched movies of it, but there was no guarantee anything there was accurate, and she didn’t want to make an ass of herself pretending she knew better.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need to set up the tent and make a fire. I mean, it’s warm enough to manage right now and the sleeping bags are thermal, so I guess the fire isn’t totally necessary, but it’ll be so much fun!” Ruby was very excited about the idea of the fire. Concerning, given what had happened during their initiation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So let’s do the tent first, if it’s more important.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby deflated at that, if only a little. “Okay… there’s an area over here that seems pretty flat, and there’s at least no rocks or anything. Does that work?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure.” Right. Because they’d be sleeping on the ground. That was also a little concerning to Weiss, but it was only a few days. She could manage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Setting up the tent shouldn’t be too hard, it seems like the same kind my summer camp used.” Weiss had never gone to any kind of camp until now, so she’d follow Ruby’s lead. That was her job, after all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So what’s first?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just plug the little sticky things from the stakes together. It gets a little boring, but this part isn’t hard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing can possibly be worse than the climb up here.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss was about to watch her team leader die, and considering how avoidable it had been, she didn’t feel particularly inclined to save her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you ready to call it quits?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not a chance!” Ruby somehow managed to yell while clinging to the side of the cliff. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss waited a minute, but her team leader showed no intention of stopping. Ruby was, admittedly, making quick progress, but this was </span>
  <em>
    <span>ridiculous</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is a waste of effort! There is an </span>
  <em>
    <span>actual</span>
  </em>
  <span> trail we can follow here, one which has been traveled by many sane and stable people. But you’re clinging to the side of a cliff just to ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>save time</span>
  </em>
  <span>.’” Weiss made air quotes, which was pointless since Ruby couldn’t see her, but who cared at this point?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll cut an hour off the route by going this cliff instead of around! And it’s better if we can set up camp before dark, anyhow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s the middle of the afternoon! And since </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span> still down here, we’re not saving any time.” Weiss no longer bothered to hide the irritation in her voice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then get up here! You don’t even have to climb–just use a glyph track.” The really infuriating part was that she was right. Of course, that didn’t explain why they hadn’t done that to begin with. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re in the middle of nowhere–we can’t exactly call an ambulance if one of us falls and breaks her neck!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have my aura up!” Aura could only do so much–if Ruby fell off a cliff she’d likely still be dead. Encouraged by that thought, she took a few steps back and raised Myrtenaster. Carefully, just like in initiation, she sent up a track. They were spaced out enough that she’d have to run, but falling was out of the question now. Assuming she survived the fall, she wouldn’t have enough Aura left to try again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t fall. Each step was perfectly timed, her pace gradually increasing until she could allow gravity to take its usual hold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss collapsed to her knees at the top of the hill, her rapier planted in front of her in an effort to keep from collapsing altogether. Failing that, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the sky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes of peace passed before some loud, likely staged grunting alerted Weiss to her team leader’s presence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That was so hard! Why didn’t we just go around?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss was impressed by Ruby’s ability to talk while putting her foot in her mouth. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Weiss, think we’ve got enough firewood! Do you wanna help with the setup, or just relax?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’d rather clean up a bit, to be honest. Was all that really necessary, though?” By ‘all that’ Weiss meant the incredibly tedious ordeal of picking up fallen twigs, sticks and branches from the forest around them for the better part of an hour. “You could have just cut down a tree and been done with it.” Ruby definitely had the strength for it–hell, she’s done it during initiation with one arm! (The noise had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>awful</span>
  </em>
  <span>.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The wood would’ve been too green, which means it doesn’t light easily and smokes a ton. This way’s better in the long run.” Ruby explained. She wasn’t condescending about it, at least. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course.” Weiss replied, because what else could she say?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby already had some of the twigs propped up in a little cone shape, and was now constructing another, slightly larger one on top of that. Right. Because why not? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Convinced that Ruby </span>
  <em>
    <span>probably</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t going to burn down the woods, Weiss started uphill in what she really hoped was the direction of the river.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, have you ever gone star spinning?” Ruby chirped, breaking the (un)comfortable silence that had settled over them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I haven’t, but based on the name I’m assuming it’s either nauseating or dangerous?” Or both, knowing Ruby. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only if you get dizzy. And it’s really pretty! Plus, the stars are really bright tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logically, Weiss knows the only reason the stars seem brighter than usual is because they’re so far from the city. (Logically, she also knows she’d never see a night sky like this in Atlas, not with all the light pollution, but that’s certainly not polite conversation.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, I’ll try, but only if it’s not weird.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Star spinning is not weird. It is dizzying and carefree and Weiss isn’t sure she did it right, but it was actually a pleasant and relatively normal experience. Ruby had apparently done it all the time with Yang as a kid, but for Weiss this had been a new experience. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d had a lot of new experiences on this trip actually. Hiking. Building a fire. Eating smores (which were less repulsive than she had expected). Sleeping outside. And… sleeping so close to someone else. Sharing a dorm with her team or that first night in the ballroom didn’t really count, not when it’d been spaced out and supervised. She’d never been so far from any kind of oversight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was terrifying and exhilarating and exhausting all at once. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Weiss? Are you asleep?” Ruby whispered, just barely loud enough to be heard over the insects chirping outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss rolled her eyes without opening them. “If I were asleep, how could I answer that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t, and then I would know not to keep talking so wouldn’t wake you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, of course.” Weiss said drily. That was completely in character for Ruby, really. Waiting, listening, and deciding from there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was what made her a good leader. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, I know you weren’t happy about this whole trip, but I wanted you to know I had a great time today. You’ve been patient and helpful and you’re a great partner. I just wanted you to know that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until that moment, Weiss had never quite understood what people meant when they said their heart gave a flutter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss was experiencing all kinds of things for the first time on that trip. </span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Good Morning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The best and worst part of any camping trip is sleeping in a tent.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>White Rose Weekend Day 3: Waking Up in the Morning<br/>By some miracle, I stayed on prompt today!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Weiss woke up to an extremely humid dorm, which was, frankly, horrible. Not improving the experience in the slightest was the fact that her mattress had somehow become uncomfortably hard and there was definitely </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> poking her in the back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This wasn’t her dorm at Beacon. Her brain catching up to the previous day in the half, Weiss looked around the tent. The sun must have been well up, because enough light leaked through the walls that Weiss could actually see their makeshift house. It was still horribly cramped, only somehow the entire space now seemed wet. At least it was warm within the sleeping bag, because otherwise the entire tent was freezing cold. (Not as bad as it had been during the night, but still.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weiss shifted slightly, trying to get around whatever was poking her back. After a bit of trial and error proved this to be a complete waste, she started to get up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Because what looked like a very large red caterpillar was now curled into her side, and didn’t seem intent on moving. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruby let out a tiny yawn as she rolled over, now at an angle where Weiss could at least see the top of her team leader’s head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tentatively, Weiss reached towards the bag and pulled it down just enough for Ruby’s face to be visible. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her bedhead was even worse than usual–which was no small feat, given Ruby’s resemblance to a porcupine in the mornings. Her face was flushed, probably sunburn from yesterday. There was a faint trickle of drool on her chin, and Weiss quietly debated wiping it off before deciding that Ruby’s hygiene was her own problem. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had technically slept on the ground. Weiss had woken up so frequently during the night that it was impossible to know if she’d slept longer than a few hours. There were no walls, no plumbing, and very poor scroll reception. Even the slightest movement sent pain shooting down her spine, leaving Weiss to ponder the wisdom of running up a cliff. The ground under the tent was very uneven, despite what Ruby had said when picking the spot. Everything was damp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But when Ruby let out another little yawn, Weiss felt completely at peace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please enjoy this very short, completely heterosexual conclusion to the story. </p>
<p>Comments are very much appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>...yeah, I went a little off prompt, but my brain said gay camping so that's what you get. </p>
<p>Much thanks to Coppergold_Mari for beta reading once again!</p>
<p>If you liked this, PLEASE comment, because I haven't written much and even little feedback is encouraging!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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